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Greymouth Star
World
8 - Thursday, May 21, 2015
United Nations
The United Nations Middle East envoy
warned overnight the people of the Gaza
Strip are desperate and angry about their
plight and that it is up to Israel and Palestinian
authorities to prevent an implosion of the
Mediterranean enclave.
In a briefing to the UN Security Council,
Nickolay Mladenov described his shock at
the devastation in Gaza after last year’s 50-
day war between Hamas militants and Israel.
He said the area’s people were angry at
everyone — including Israel for its blockade,
Egypt for the closure of its Rafah border
crossing, Hamas for imposing a “solidarity
tax” and the international community for not
honoring reconstruction pledges.
“There is a clear moral and humanitarian
imperative not just for the United Nations and
the international community, but primarily
for the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to
prevent the implosion of Gaza,” Mladenov
said.
“Gaza is desperate and angry,” he said of the
enclave, home to 1.8 million Palestinians.
Mladenov said he and Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon would engage with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new
government to explore “realistic options” for
a return to peace talks on a two-state solution
“ within a reasonable timeframe.” Netanyahu
took a stand against Palestinian statehood
during his election campaign. Palestinians
seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967.
Mladenov urged Israel to freeze settlements.
The United Nations and most countries
consider settlements that Israel has built on
territory captured in 1967 as illegal.
Netanyahu has pledged to continue
building settlements, citing historical and
Biblical links to the occupied territories.
Mladenov also called for Palestinian unity
between Gaza — controlled by Islamist
movement Hamas since 2007 — and the
West Bank — where Fatah, the more secular,
western-backed party runs the Palestinian
administration. — Reuters
Gaza residents ‘desperate’ — UN
IS seizes
ancient
Syrian city
Surge in
Ebola cases
Mullaghmore (Ireland)
Britain’s Prince Charles has
spoken of his “anguish” at the
murder of his godfather by Irish
Republican Army paramilitaries
in 1979 as he became the first
royal to visit the assassination site
in Ireland.
Prince Charles remembered
Lord Louis Mountbatten as
“the grandfather I never had” on
an emotional trip to the rugged
coastline, saying he understood
the suffering of the Irish people in
“a profound way ”.
The British Union Jack flag and
the Irish tricolour flew side by side
overnight on the main street in
Mullaghmore, the seaside village
from where Lord Mountbatten
and his family set off on a boat
which was later blown up by an
IRA bomb.
“At the time I could not imagine
how we would come to terms with
the anguish of such a deep loss,”
Prince Charles said.
“Through
this
dreadful
experience I now understand in a
profound way the agonies borne by
others on these islands of whatever
faith or political persuasion.”
Lord Mountbatten, Charles’s
great-uncle, his mother Queen
Elizabeth II’s cousin and the last
viceroy of British-ruled India, was
79 when he was killed.
Two relatives, one of them Prince
Charles’s teenage godson, and a
15-year-old local boy also died in
the attack.
Lord Mountbatten’s grandson,
Timothy Knatchbull, who sur vived
the blast but whose 14-year-old
twin brother Nicholas was killed,
met Charles in Mullaghmore
along with local resident Peter
McHugh, who helped bring the
bodies ashore.
There has been a gradual process
of reconciliation since the 1998
Good Friday Agreements which
formally put an end to three
decades of civil unrest known
as The Troubles in which 3500
people died.
In a further sign of thawing
relations, the 66-year-old heir
to the throne earlier became the
first royal to meet Irish republican
leader Gerry Adams, the leader of
Sinn Fein, the political arm of the
now-defunct IRA.
A few hours
after the
Mullaghmore attack, 18 British
soldiers were killed in an IRA
ambush across the border in
Northern Ireland, in one of the
deadliest days of the conflict.
Prince Charles and his wife
Camilla have been met with
crowds of cheering onlookers
during their two-day visit to
Ireland, as well as a small protest.
His handshake with Adams
came after the historic meeting in
2012 between Q ueen Elizabeth II
and Northern Ireland’s deputy first
minister, former IRA commander
Martin McGuinness.
As he spoke in Sligo, Prince
Charles recalled remarks made
by his mother in 2011 when she
became the first British monarch
to visit Ireland since it gained
independence from Britain in
1922.
“ We all have regrets. As my
mother said at Dublin Castle, with
the benefit of historical hindsight
we can all see things which
we would wish had been done
differently or not at all,” Prince
Charles said.
“I ’m only too deeply aware of the
long history of suffering which
Ireland has endured.
“The recent years have shown us
that healing is possible,” he said.
— AFP
Charles visits great-uncle’s murder site
Beirut
Islamic State insurgents stormed the historic
Syrian city of Palmyra overnight, fighting off
pro-government forces which withdrew after
evacuating most of the civilian population, State
television said.
The capture of Palmyra is the first time the
al Qaeda offshoot has taken control of a city
directly from the Syrian army and allied forces,
which have already lost ground in the north-
west and south to other insurgent groups in
recent weeks.
The central city, also known as Tadmur, is built
alongside the remains of a oasis civilisation
whose colonnaded streets, temple and theatre
have stood for 2000 years.
Islamic State has destroyed antiquities and
ancient monuments in neighbouring Iraq and is
being targeted by United States-led air strikes
in both countries.
Syria’s antiquities chief called on the world to
save its ancient monuments and State television
said Islamic State fighters were trying to enter
the city’s historical sites.
Palmyra is also a strategic military gain, home
to modern army installations and situated on a
desert highway linking the capital Damascus
with Syria’s eastern provinces, mostly under
insurgent control.
“Praise God, it has been liberated,” an Islamic
State fighter said via the internet from the
Palmyra area. He said Islamic State was in
control of a hospital in the city which Syrian
forces had used as a base before withdrawing.
The Syrian Obser vatory for Human Rights
monitoring group said Islamic State had seized
almost all of the city. It said it was unclear what
had happened to forces stationed at an army
outpost on its outskirts or the fate of a major
military prison.
Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim
said earlier that hundreds of statues had been
moved to safe locations but called on the Syrian
army, opposition and international community
to save the site.
“The fear is for the museum and the large
monuments that cannot be moved,” he said,
“This is the entire world’s battle.”
The attack is part of a westward advance by
Islamic State that is adding to pressures on the
overstretched military and allied militia. The
group holds tracts of land in the north and east
and is now edging towards the more heavily
populated areas along its western flank.
In the east, US special forces carried out a
ground assault on Saturday against Islamic
State and killed a militant believed to be in
charge of the group’s financial operations.
UNESCO called for called for international
efforts to protect Palmyra’s population “and
safeguard the unique cultural heritage”.
Palmyra’s ancient monuments, which lie on
the south-western fringe of the modern city,
were put on UNESCO’s World Heritage in
danger list in 2013. The ruins were part of a
desert oasis that was one of the most significant
cultural centres of the ancient world.
Islamic State supporters posted pictures
on social media showing what they said were
gunmen in the streets of Palmyra, which is
the location of one of Syria’s biggest weapons
depots as well as army bases, an airport and a
major prison.
In the north-east, Kurdish forces backed by air
strikes pressed an attack on Islamic State that
has killed at least 170 members of the group this
week, a Kurdish official and the Obser vatory
said.
US-led forces have concentrated their air
strikes on Syria’s north and east, areas out of
government control.
The official said Kurdish YPG fighters and
allied militia had encircled Islamic State in a
dozen villages near the town of Tel Tamr in
Hasaka province, which borders land controlled
by Islamic State in neighbouring Iraq.
“The confirmed number of (Islamic State)
dead is between 170 and 200,” said Kurdish
official Nasir Haj Mansour, speaking by
telephone from Syria. — Reuters
Geneva
Ebola-hit Guinea and Sierra Leone
saw a spike in new cases last week,
the World Health Organisation says,
dashing hopes that the deadly outbreak
was petering out.
The seven days ending on Sunday “saw
the highest weekly total of confirmed
cases of Ebola virus disease for over a
month,” the United Nations health body
said in its latest update overnight.
Thirty-five new cases were reported
during the week in Guinea and Sierra
Leone, up from just nine a week earlier.
According to the latest figures, the
outbreak has now infected a total
of 26,933 people and killed 11,120,
mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and
neighbouring Liberia, which was
declared Ebola-free on May 9.
Guinea, where the outbreak began in
late 2013, was hardest hit last week, with
27 new cases reported, compared to just
seven the week before.
Sierra Leone, which had appeared
to be heading in the same direction as
neighbouring Liberia, meanwhile saw
the number of new cases shoot up to
eight from just two a week earlier.
The increase in Sierra Leone brought to
an end “a sequence of three consecutive
falls in weekly case incidence,” WHO
said. Since the beginning of the outbreak,
869 health workers have been confirmed
to be carrying Ebola, and 507 of them
have died, WHO said. — AFP
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia and Indonesia said
late yesterday they would offer
shelter to 7000 “boat people”
adrift at sea in rickety boats but
made clear their assistance was
temporary and they would take
no more.
More than 3000 migrants
have landed so far this month
in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Together with Thailand, they
have pushed away many boats
that approached their shores
despite appeals from the United
Nations to take them in.
In a joint statement in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and
Indonesia emphasised that the
international community also
had a responsibility to help
them deal with the crisis.
The migrants are mostly
Rohingya Muslims from
Myanmar and Bangladeshis —
men, women and children who
fled persecution and poverty
at home or were abducted
by traffickers, and now face
sickness and star vation at sea.
“ What we have clearly stated
is that we will take in only
those people in the high sea,”
Malaysian Foreign Minister
Anifah Aman said. “But under
no circumstances would we
be expected to take each one
of them if there is an influx of
others. ”
Both countries said they
would offer “resettlement and
repatriation”, a process that
would be “done in a year by the
international community”.
The United Nations,
which has been calling on
governments in the region to
rescue those drifting at sea,
welcomed the move and urged
that people be brought to shore
without delay.
Aman said temporary shelters
would be set up, but not in
Thailand, a favoured transit
point for migrants hoping to
work illegally in Malaysia.
Thai authorities have said
they will allow the sick to
come to shore for medical
attention, but have stopped
short of saying whether they
would allow other migrants to
disembark.
Still, Thailand said overnight
it would not force boats back
out to sea.
“Thailand attaches great
importance to humanitarian
assistance and will not push
back migrants stranded in
the Thai territorial water,” the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said
in a statement.
Thailand has called a regional
conference on the issue in
Bangkok for May 29.
“ We maintain our stance that
we are a transit country. In
the meeting we said that our
country has more problems
than theirs,” Thai Prime
Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha
said in Bangkok.
Phil Robertson of Human
Rights Watch welcomed the
joint statement, which he
said “should mark the end
of the region’s push back
policies against Rohingya and
Bangladeshi boat people”,
but added it was disturbing
that “Thailand was missing in
action”.
Hours before the ministers
met, hundreds of Rohingya
and Bangladeshi landed in
Indonesia’s Aceh province.
“Wehavetofind ways to
resettle them as soon as possible
without creating a new moral
hazard,” Dewi Fortuna Anwar,
political adviser to Indonesia’s
vice-president, told reporters in
Jakarta.
“ If migrants start thinking of
Indonesia as a transit point or
as having a higher chance of
getting resettled, that would
create another problem that we
have to prevent. ”
She said the main
responsibility lay with
Myanmar, which the UN
said last week must stop
discrimination against
Rohingya Muslims to end a
pattern of migration from the
corner of the Bay of Bengal
into the Andaman Sea and
Malacca Strait. — Reuters
Malaysia, Indonesia to let boat people land
PICTURE: Reuters
Rohingya and Bangleshi migrants wait on board a fishing boat before being transported to shore, off the coast of Julok, in Aceh
province, Indonesia.
Australia maintains cattle sales to
Vietnam despite slaughter scandal
Sydney
Australia will investigate claims
by an animal rights group that cattle
in Vietnam are being slaughtered
with sledgehammers but it will
not suspend live cattle exports to
that country, Prime Minister Tony
Abbott said yesterday.
Animals Australia said it had
“shocking and distressing” footage
of animals being slaughtered
by repeated blows from a
sledgehammer in an abattoir in
the north of Vietnam, the second-
largest buyer of live cattle from
Australia. It said the film was
too graphic to be released but it
published one photo.
There was no evidence that
the animals in the footage were
Australian, but animal rights groups
demanded that exports of live cattle
to Vietnam be suspended, saying
that the method of slaughter seen
was traditional there.
However, Abbott ruled out any
suspension.
“ We will carefully
investigate any allegations. If
there’s anything in them, we will
take appropriate action but the last
thing we’ ll do is close down this
trade,” he said in Brisbane.
Shipments to Indonesia were
halted for a month in 2011 after
footage emerged of cruelty to
animals there, at huge cost to the
industry. Australian Agricultural
Company, the country’s biggest
beef producer, said the suspension
cost it about $A50 million ($53.9
million).
Sales of Australian live cattle to
Vietnam jumped more than 700%
between 2008 and 2014, industry
body Meat and Livestock Australia
said.
According
to
Australian
government forecasts, live cattle
exports to Vietnam are expected
to be worth $117m in the coming
season from July 31, second only
to sales to Indonesia, which will be
worth a forecast $549m.
Australia’s cattle industry con-
demned the actions seen in the
footage although it said abattoirs that
used such methods of slaughter were
not approved as slaughterhouses for
Australian cattle.
“This latest report captures our
worst fears for welfare — that
Australian cattle have been illegally
removed from our supply chains
for quick-buck processing in
non-approved slaughterhouses in
northern Vietnam,” Alison Penfold,
chief executive officer of the
Australian Live Exporters Council,
said. — Reuters
Seattle
Police in Washington
State said overnight they
had responded to an
emergency call about a
Bengal tiger lounging on
top of a car, but it turned
out the cat was actually a
big stuffed animal.
A concerned citizen
called 911 on Monday
after seeing what
appeared to be a live tiger
riding on top of a sport
utility vehicle at Lacamas
Lake, a popular recreation
area, according to police
in the city of Camas.
“This person thought it
was real and called it in,”
Camas police sergeant
Rob Skeens said, adding
no report was taken
because there is no law
against strapping stuffed
animals to the top of a
car. — Reuters
Toy tiger on
car sparks alarm
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